save them

My friend, Betsy, had saved all of her daughters t-shirts from all of her theater performances over the years, with hopes to one day do something with them.That something ended up being a quilt.

The shirts were cut into 15" x 15" squares. (That really is a big job! Thank you, Betsy!) I then surged them together. Then, layered the batting, backing and top together. Sewed them together and then turned right sides out. I didn't do a binding, just added a 4" border and stitched right along the edge. Used DMC Floss, making a little knot in each corner in order to keep the batting from bunching.We used a whimsical fabric for the backing which we thought was fun. And off sweet Caroline will go to college taking her memories with her.

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that's a great idea :) I've heard of doing this sort of blanket with favorite baby clothes (like all those adorable onesies we end up with bambinos).... never thought to do it on this large of a scale. Thanks for sharing!

I've already been saving favorite t-shirts for just this idea! I can't wait to have enough to put together a memory quilt! your tips and tricks will come in handy. you're such a wonderful friend to sew this up for another.

I had suggested this to my 9 year old, who is determined he want to make a quilt himself this summer - so it is great to see it works! I dont think ours will be as even as yours as we are going to use t-shirts he has loved and some are quite small - I did think that maybe we would set a square of tshirt into cotton and then make each of those squares the same size to join together....anyway loving your T shirt quilt and the thought behind it! :D

You are AMAZING!!!This made me want to cry - thinking about Caroline, and how unbelievably generous (of time, spirit, interest, I could go on all day here....) you are, and of Betsy saving up those performance tees all those years and now symbolically putting that huge chapter aside in the form of a quilt, in order to honor the past, but ready to embark on a crisp new chapter. xox Mps maybe you should start thinking about a sporty one for Charlie- all those team tees!!

I love it and the batik back! I made a similar style quilt for a friend with her race Ts. The blocks were 15x15 too. It was a mammoth sized quilt and weighty too. I fused a tricot interfacing to my Ts before cutting and sewing. It gave the Ts some stability and kept them from stretching all out of whack.

Caroline is lucky to be able to wrap herself up in her memories and have a great conversation starter with new friends.

Leslie~the quilt is incredible and Caroline is totally in love with it! I LOVE that when i come to you with a crafty idea (and no skills to back it up...) that you are so willing to make it happen, so generous with your time and many gifts to help me give her such a treasure~ I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful friend!Is it terrible that I secretly hope she leaves it here with me in september???

I recently convinced my husband to stop wearing certain shirts that are worn out. He was only able to part with his beloved shirts because I told him I would make a quilt out of them! Even though I had no idea how to proceed! I do not have a surger on my sewing machine, how do you suggest I piece them together?

This is great! My hubby has a bunch of old tshirts that he just won't part with for sentimental reasons....maybe I could sell him on this idea? Did u have to use a stabilizer to get the tshirt fabric to behave while sewing?